A former call centre manager who 'walked around in a daze' after being made redundant is on a mission to get hundreds of unemployed people on Teesside back to work without leaving their homes.
Susan Lane, from Redcar, set up her own virtual call centre, Salcallcentre, after losing her job last year. In just three months, four employees had answered thousands of calls for online retailers. She now has 18 trained work-from-home staff servicing major national and international contracts.
Susan said, “I thought if you can do outsourcing, there must be a way for people to service customers from their own home. As long as they have the computer, a phone line, headset and internet connection, they can do it.
“Disabled people can work from home, staff gain two hours a day when they’re not travelling to and from work and they choose their work hours to suit them, not a company," she added.
The company expects to turn over £100,000 in its first year and employ 150 home workers by 2011.
Susan managed to get a grant to purchase the telephone systems and headsets, computers, projectors and screens, furniture and a broadband connection from UK Steel Enterprise, the Corus subsidiary that supports businesses in steel areas. 
